Finally, opening day arrives. Fifteen hundred kites are designed, decorated and ready to be flown. The biggest kites are called odako. They're difficult to get into the air,but 13 different teams have come to try their best. Other teams prefer the smaller kites called rokako, which are much easier to fly-more like fighter jets while the odako are like heary bombers. For centuries, the battle of the kites has taken place along shirone's central river, the nakanokuchi. The competing teams stand on opposite sides of the river. The goal is for one team to capture another team's. Kite and pull it from the sky. Once one team has captured another teeam's kkite, it's time for the real competition to begin team member desperately cling to their kite ropes, doing everything they can to keep their grip.